The Winddrinker

By helping to optimise the design of the Winddrinker system, Royal IHC is contributing to the battle against the scarcity of clean drinking water.

Estimates suggest that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and Winddrinker aims to provide a solution. The Winddrinker is a decentralised system that produces high-quality drinking water from brackish water using only wind power and a desalination system. This desalination system is well-known in the maritime industry and is regularly installed on board IHC vessels. Since 2013, the IHC Merwede Foundation has been involved in optimising the design of the Winddrinker system.

Design optimisation

The first prototype of the Winddrinker was built and installed in Berbera, Somaliland – a brackish water region where the population faces a shortage of fresh drinking water. The technology behind the Winddrinker was proven to work, and the prototype produced high-quality drinking water from brackish ground water.

The IHC Merwede Foundation contributes to further optimisation of the design by organising brainstorming sessions with specialists from IHC, and by supporting the organisation with project planning. Once the the Winddrinker system is optimised, it will also be installed at ten locations in the Republic of Kenya.